The Idol kicks off with Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) posing for a very sexy photo shoot. Her team, including Troye Sivan’s Xander, is worried about her after what she’s been through. They’re particularly concerned about her mental health. “Mental illness is sexy,” Jocelyn’s record label exec, Nikki (Jane Adams), brashly says.
During the revealing photo shoot, a situation arises regarding the nudity. Apparently, the nudity rider needs to change if Jocelyn is going to show more of it. Jocelyn swears she doesn’t feel pressured to show nudity.
In the midst of the photo shoot, her team discovers that a photo has leaked of Jocelyn with c*m on her face. Naturally, they’re freaking out about the optics, but less concerned about Jocelyn. Her team begins to collectively spiral over this photo and what it could mean for Jocelyn’s career (and theirs), but no one has actually told her about something that directly affects her. Jocelyn’s publicist (Dan Levy) notes that Jocelyn is already the #1 trending topic on Twitter, so it can’t be that bad.
Jocelyn eventually goes looking for her phone. When Leia (Rachel Sennott), her best friend, tries to change the subject, Jocelyn begins to suspect something’s up.
A Vanity Fair journalist, played by Hari Nef, arrives and wants to chat with Jocelyn. She watches Jocelyn in dance rehearsal. Despite this becoming a growing crisis, Jocelyn is the last person to find out about the photo scandal.
To let off some steam after the scandal erupts, Jocelyn goes to a club. That’s where she crosses paths with The Weeknd’s Tedros. She’s entranced with him right off the bat. They begin to make out in a stairwell. After they’re nearly caught by Leia, Jocelyn and Tedros talk about her career. “You have the best job in the world. You should be having way more fun,” Tedros tells her.
The next day, she sits down with the Vanity Fair writer. There’s a back-and-forth about what’s on and off the record the entire time. There’s an elephant in the room, and it’s the photo scandal.
That night, Tedros comes to Jocelyn’s house. While he waits for her, he curiously looks around her place. He eyes her security camera fairly quickly. Jocelyn and Tedros go into her music studio, and she plays him one of her songs. She shares the first song she recorded after her mother died.
He likes it but has just one “minor” note for her: “I don’t believe you. If you’re gonna sing a song called ‘I’m A Freak’ you should at least sing it like you know how to f**k.” She replies, “What makes you think I don’t know how to f**k?” He quickly snaps, “Your vocal performance.”
Tedros tells Jocelyn that she’s too “locked up” in her own head. He believes she needs to “block out the world.” At this point, he has Jocelyn wrapped around his finger. He takes her robe and covers her face with it, but he doesn’t give her a way to breathe. He pulls out a knife and orders Jocelyn to open her mouth. He cuts an opening so she can breathe. “Now you can see,” he says.